TEACHING CULTURE IN EFL CLASSES: IS IT IMPORTANT TO LITHUANIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS?

Dr Aurelija Daukšaitė-Kolpakovienė, Vytautas Magnus University

Abstract

Teaching culture in foreign language classes has become an inseparable component and a norm providing students with insight into the ways people speaking a particular language live. However, EFL books used in higher education often do not dedicate as much attention to culture as they do at lower levels of education. Thus, through an anonymous online questionnaire, this study attempted to address the following questions: 1) Should EFL classes at university level be with a cultural focus, not only a linguistic one? If yes, what should be included? 2) What are Lithuanian university EFL students’ experiences of and attitudes towards learning about culture in their EFL classes? The obtained data were processed using MS Excel and thematic analysis. The findings revealed that culture indeed should be taught in university EFL classes, as currently students mostly learn about culture on the Internet and while travelling. It should be noted that the cultural focus should not be limited to the Anglophone cultures but rather include a wider range of them (for instance, students’ culture, other European cultures, and cultures from other continents). As indicated by the students of one Lithuanian university (N=54), the list of specific cultural aspects to be covered is rather wide, but the most important seemed to be customs and traditions, greetings, history, food, and values. Yet, the students are divided on whether their knowledge of culture should be tested. In addition, the findings suggest that including culture would not necessarily motivate Lithuanian EFL students to study English, which means their teachers should look for other means to motivate their students.

Keywords: culture, EFL, ELT, foreign language and culture